Where to Start? How About Some Charity Knitting!

One of the kicks in the pants to start knitting from the stash was a notice I saw in my church bulletin. I saw it about five months ago and it was a call for knitters to make scarves for the homeless for this Fall/Winter season. The organizer sought to collect 1000 scarves before November 19th. A thousand scarves? Yikes, that's a lot, I thought, and promptly put it on the "To Knit" list, which I then ignored.

Then I saw the notice in another bulletin, then in my knitting guild newsletter and again on the web, and could feel this finger tapping me on the shoulder. And finally I realized that I certainly wasn't going to knit 1000 scarves, but I could knit 1. And how long would it take 3-4 days out of my regularly scheduled knitting project.

And it wasn't like I didn't have the yarn.

So I pulled out a skein of boring gray acrylic that I probably got from one of my mother's garage sale bargain bag o'yarn that she brings me from time to time, and pulled out one of my favorite scarf patterns: Seaman's Scarf, from the Christmas at Sea program. The scarf knit up quick and I looked at my one lonely scarf and realized I could do a little more. Nothing like a little Catholic guilt to keep the needles clicking. Besides, now I had a mission: Knit the Stash.

So I dug out these leftovers of Lion's Brand Wool-Ease Chunky from what the family calls "My Christmas of Hats" (that's another story altogether) and realized I had enough to make a scarf, maybe even two. Well, two it is. I played mix and match with the scraps I had and am nearly done with the last scarf. How easy is that . . . plus the bonus is, I'm down an entire box of extra yarn. And best of all, three homeless men will have scarves for the winter. No, it isn't much, and there are still 997 necks left to warm, but I figure there are enough of us out there, like me, with a few extra skeins lying around and willing to take a couple days out of their knitting to make a scarf or two.

How about it? Anyone else willing to knit a scarf for the homeless? I'll get the address where to mail them to and post it the next time I blog. And now that I've knit these, what are your favorite things to knit for charity?
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Anonymous said…
Good for you! What a great thing to do with your huge stash! I've been trying to get my local SnB to do something like this, but they haven't been too receptive unfortunately.
It may not feel like much when you say three homeless men will have scarves, but it will make a world of difference to three people just trying to stay warm.
Pat on the back to you! Keep on stitchn'!
You've certainly inspired me!
5:38 PM
Elizabeth Boyle said…
Thanks for dropping by, Meredith! I know what you mean about getting folks inspired to knit for charity--sometimes it is really hard to get folks interested in--especially when they have their own projects that are exciting to them. But I do love knitting hats or scarves, so this is fun. I just hope other folks join in, take few days off from the current project and just knit one scarf. And then if someone else did, and then someone else . . and soon that 1000 scarves wouldn't be so hard to imagine.
Please come back and check in!
5:53 PM
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